talking fresh&easy blog

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

more fresh&easy stores opening!

Today we celebrated with our new neighbors in Pasadena the grand opening of our 121st store at California & Lake.

Here are some photos and a video from today's event!





You can see more pictures of the opening event today on our flickr page.

Be sure to keep an eye out, because we have three other stores opening this month!
Two in Santa Barbara County and a store in Oxnard all open July 29th and our Delano store will be opening its doors on August 19th. For details on these openings, be sure to check out our What's New section of our website.

Pasadena, thank you so much for the warm welcome. We are delighted to join the neighborhood!

~Cheers,
Sallie

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Monday, May 18, 2009

following the customer at fresh&easy

"follow the customer" is a phrase we use a lot, to describe the way we do business.

The needs of customers after all are always evolving - think about your own lives - so what could be simpler than just listening to what would help, and then organizing yourself to deliver it. That way, year-in, year-out, your shopping trip is always getting better.

That's exactly what fresh&easy is all about. It was designed by listening to people, and since opening 18 mths ago, it's been evolving on the basis of customer feedback.

A constant request has been for more fresh&easy products, so we continue to innovate in this area. We've recently added, for example, quiche (fresh from our kitchen), pita chips, and gourmet hamburger buns, to name just a few - all of course with no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, and no added transfat.

However, as the economic climate has got harder, customers have also been asking for help in making their budgets go further, so we've been organizing ourselves to do just that.

Already, you can count on at least 6 different packs of produce at just 98c every week, to help keep fresh produce affordable, and we've introduced stronger promotions, together with a weekly flyer.

But we've also been asked for more family packs, so these are now starting to come into the stores. The family-sized meals, fresh from our kitchen, are one example we've recently introduced, but you can now get bigger sizes of your favorite detergents and cleaners, and across the store we've many more to come.

On the back of customer feedback on our Buxted meat lines and Taurino, we're also introducing many more new brands over the next few weeks that offer outstanding value - all national brand quality, at unbelievably low prices, and only available at fresh&easy. For example, look out for our Mothers Joy breakfast cereals launching next week.

Finally, we're also adding a few more national brands to our stores, in response to specific requests from customers, to make their shopping trips more complete - Guerrero tortillas are one example.

All this adds up to more than 1000 extra products coming into our stores over the summer. And by organizing ourselves, we can do this without taking anything away - by adding extra shelves, and fine-tuning how we use our space.

So by "following the customer", we end up with a better shopping trip. It's good for us, and it's good for our customers.

And that, surely, is how it should be.....

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Thursday, May 7, 2009

fresh&easy opens 120th store

We just opened our 120th store at Durango Dr. & El Capitan Way in Las Vegas and our new neighbors stormed in just after the ribbon cutting! Here are some photos…

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Friday, April 24, 2009

Good Food in Frugal Times

Just because we are in a recession doesn't mean that we should have to compromise the quality and taste of our groceries. Staying at home and cooking is a simple way to save money, but it can be overwhelming to plan meals in advance and around deals. We pulled together some helpful links that have tips to help save in these tough economic times.

Here are some of our favorite blogs that battle the recession blues with good food:
  • Recession Recipes - Take two inspired cooks and mix with seasonal ingredients, recent deals from many stores and add a splash of creativity and you have recipes that are not only recession proof, but downright beautiful.
  • LA Cheapskate - Cindy scouts for deals and plans a whole weekly meal plan around what she finds. Have leftover ham? She's got you covered on ways to get more meals for your buck.
  • CookThink - Plug in the ingredients you already have at home and it will come up with a gourmet recipe you. Its perfect for those nights when you can't think of anything to do with that pineapple, those pork chops from the freezer, and the can of diced tomatoes from the back of the pantry.
Some more excellent blogs to visit when looking for frugal tips:
Some Fresh & Easy insider tips:
  • Each Wednesday we launch new extra low price specials across our stores. They are updated on our website where you can view all the deals by downloading your weekly flyer for your area.
  • In different aisles throughout our stores you will find our newest promotion “Buy more & save."
  • Each day we have special mark downs in our clearance section at the end of our refrigerated aisle.
  • If you haven’t already, sign up for our Friends of Fresh & Easy emails and we’ll send you our latest news and exclusive offers.
What are your special tips for saving money and sources for good tips and deals? We are always listening, so please share your thoughts!

~Sallie

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Thursday, March 19, 2009

Family packs at fresh & easy

We've always followed a very simple approach - listen to what your customers want, and then try and deliver it, better than anybody else.

That's why we encourage customers to give us feedback - through our website or comment cards - and why we carry out exit surveys around our stores every month.

So when customers told us they enjoy our prepared meals, but would like to see more family sized meals, we took action!

We’ve just introduced a selection of 6 new prepared meals suitable for a family of four, including favorites like Lasagna with Meat Sauce or our Chicken & Bacon Mac & Cheese. And with no trans fats and no artificial colors or flavors, we’ve introduced these dinners at just $8.00! Now families have more options without having to compromise on quality or price.

There's several other areas where our customers have asked us for larger pack sizes, so again we're busy working on them. Some have already hit our stores, like bigger packs of chicken breasts, and Huggies diapers.

It's a simple approach, but it means our shopping trip is always improving for customers. After all, everyday our customers vote with their feet, and that surely is how it should be...

Next time you’re in, be sure to check them out…



Lasagna with Meat Sauce, 44 oz. & Chicken & Broccoli Pasta Alfredo, 40 oz



Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs, 45 oz. & Chicken Teriyaki with Rice & Vegetables, 45 oz.



Chicken & Bacon Macaroni & Cheese, 40 oz. & Chicken Burritos with Green and Red Sauce, 40 oz.

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